


Mosley Lane

by dralexreid



Series: Dr Piper Bishop [48]
Category: Criminal Minds (US TV)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Gen, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Kidnapping
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-02
Updated: 2020-12-02
Packaged: 2021-03-09 18:00:42
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con, Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,202
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27830410
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dralexreid/pseuds/dralexreid
Summary: The BAU is called by local authorities in Ashburn, Virginia, to profile a predator who may have been abducting children for at least eight years.
Relationships: Dr Spencer Reid/Dr Piper Bishop
Series: Dr Piper Bishop [48]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1972852
Kudos: 17





	Mosley Lane

Piper’s thumbs twitched in her seat. She’d volunteered to speak three minutes ago but hadn’t said a word to the group yet. She wasn’t quite sure where to start. “A few months ago, a friend of mine—a good friend,” she amended. “He died. In my arms. He died immediately.” Piper sighed, raising her eyes to the ceiling. “I keep thinking, you know, that I should have done something. And then I remember that I did. A woman,” she said evenly, “Took the life of a man and for that, I took hers.” Piper sighed again, running a hand through her hair. It was longer than when she’d started the job, trailing her upper arm. “There aren’t many self-help guides for that sort of thing.” She heard a spatter of chuckles echo around the room. Piper smiled weakly. “I never thought twice about it.” Her voice was quiet but still held the attention of the dozen people surrounding her. She felt a stranger hold her shoulder comfortingly.

Meanwhile, Spencer was standing with a hand scrunched into his pocket. “Hi. I’m Spencer. I’m, uh, 10 months sober today.” He teetered slowly on his heels at the scattered applause in the room. “I—I’ve been trying to keep the momentum, but uh—I’m uh, scared of another relapse. I guess, I just uh, don’t want to um, disappoint anyone with this thing—this, uh addiction. I mean, I guess, it’s sort of a blessing and a curse,” he scoffed. “Like it’s what’s keeping me going but sometimes I wonder if um, things would be easier without the job,” he managed before his eyes caught hers. He held her gaze for a moment until he glanced down at the pager she held next to her thigh, tapping it gently. “Sorry, um, I have to go,” Spencer excused himself before making his way over to Piper’s side.

“Ashburn, Virginia,” Piper steamrolled as they started rushing to her bike. “Missing kid.”

“How long has she been missing?” Spencer asked as he dialled JJ’s number.

“It’s been 45 minutes. They’re calling us in.” Piper passed him a helmet. “Hotch and Rossi already left for the crime scene.”

In the lesser half of 15 minutes, Piper had managed to bring them into the office, and they flashed their badges at security. Just as they’d walked in, Derek marched past, dragging Spencer with him while Garcia pulled Piper into her BatCave. “Derek’s taking Reid to the family house and we need to look at every local abduction in the past year, see if there's any overlap.”

“Good news is that we're barely into the second hour, right?”

“Yeah, well, odds are we've only got 22 hours to find Aimee alive, so let's do this,” Garcia proposed before gently pushing Piper into the lair where JJ was already standing.

“Good, you’re here. Emily’s looking through the paper files with Anderson while we help out Garcia.” JJ gestured to the seat next to her. “Ashburn has a winter festival every year, not a single attempt at kidnapping.”

“So, it’s—” The door behind Piper and Penelope burst open, revealing Emily.

“There’s a woman here who says her son was abducted by the same offender.” Piper raised an eyebrow at JJ’s sigh as she rubbed her face.

“Has she been drinking?”

“Yeah, I'm pretty sure. How'd you know that?”

“Sarah Hillridge. She lost her son Charlie 8 years ago. She comes in every time a child around his age goes missing. She thinks her son is still alive.”

“Yeah, I know,” Penelope piped up. “I remember her. She stays for the first 24 hours, right?” JJ sighed heavily again before leaving, reminding them they only had 8 hours left.

“Garcia?”

“Yeah, Pipes?” Penelope turned to her screens.

“Do you have Sarah’s file?”

“Sure, why?” Piper scooted her chair closer to Penelope.

“I just feel like I owe it a once-over. You mind?” Penelope shook her head, then turned it to the screens and clacked something out rapidly before passing Piper a tablet. “Thanks,” Piper muttered absent-mindedly as she stood to pace slowly while she perused the file.

“You know, I feel so bad for this woman.”

“Ms Hillridge?”

“Well, yeah, but Mrs Lynch too. I can’t imagine what she’s going through,” she said over the soft clacks her ringed fingers made.

“She’s probably blaming herself, trying to imagine what Aimee must be going through,” Piper sighed.

“Not helping,” Penelope managed through gritted teeth. “That damn woman mustn’t have helped either.”

“Mrs Hillridge? It’s hardly her—”

“No,” Penelope exaggerated. “I meant that woman looking for her daughter,” she said exasperatedly before noticing that the pacing behind her stopped.

“What?”

"Some woman was looking for her daughter and Mrs Lynch got distracted.”

“Do we know who she is?” Piper practically slammed down in her seat.

“Does it matter?” Piper nodded, holding up the tablet.

“Mrs Hillridge said the same thing in this file.”

“O-Okay, I will look into witness records and, umm…”

“We need Hotch,” Piper added gently, and Penelope nodded quickly before rapidly punching in Hotch’s number while Piper called JJ and Emily in.

“ _You’ve got me and Rossi, Garcia.”_

“Sir, Ms Hillridge came in again this morning and we found this connection that’s weird as hell.”

“Boss,” Piper started. “Both women claimed to witness another woman who was looking for her daughter as well.”

“What are the odds that this is just a coincidence?” Emily asked from behind Piper.

“Tenebaum said coincidences seem to be the source for some of our greatest irrationalities,” Piper quoted, rubbing her face.

 _“Piper’s right. I’m not sure we should risk dismissing it,”_ Rossi said over the line.

“It could be a ruse?” Emily offered.

“In which case, she’d need a partner,” Piper added.

“Well, if it's the same people, they've been doing this for close to a decade,” JJ finished.

 _“Let Reid and Morgan know and get them back to the office,”_ Hotch directed. _“Meanwhile, get started on the profile.”_

“I can start compiling missing children files,” Penelope offered and Hotch agreed. Piper squeezed Penelope’s shoulder before leaving with Emily to get started. As JJ left to field reporters, Spencer and Derek started walking down the driveway, past Mr Lynch and his trail of cigarette smoke.

“So that’s it, then,” Frank Lynch said with a sigh, releasing another plume of smoke from his lips.

“No, it isn't,” Derek amended.

“Well, why are you leaving?”

“Every available cop in the state is out looking for your daughter.”

“Who's been gone for more than 24 hours,” Frank added. “I think we both know what that means.”

“Percentile-wise we do, but every case is based on its own merit,” Spencer corrected him.

“Well, what merit is this case?”

“Sir, Aimee was taken at high risk by whoever took her,” Derek explained, keeping his itch to leave under control. “It means it was organized, meticulously planned, and likely more than one person. And this suggests they intend on keeping her.” A police car pulled up behind them surreptitiously and Mrs Lynch walked up the driveway to meet the trio.

“Keeping her? For what? Frank?” Frank looked at Derek who shared a look with Spencer. Between their 12 years of experience, they both knew more than well the multitude of things Aimee Lynch could be going through.

“Keeping her means that she's alive,” Spencer said finally. “And I think that's really all you need to focus on right now.” He backed down the driveway until Mrs Lynch spoke again.

“Are you leaving?”

“Ma'am, our profile remains,” Derek tried. “As do hundreds of officers and many agents looking for your daughter. Now, if there's any information pertaining to Aimee, then we'll be back.”

“Mr. Lynch,” Spencer said gently. “I think you should know that nothing could have stopped these people from taking your daughter.”

“Yeah.” Frank rubbed his face gently. “Well, I would have never let go of her hand.” With that, he whirled away from his wife and the agents to make his way up to the house as she called her husband’s name. Spencer watched the couple march up to the house, clearly going into their house ready to argue.

“We've done all we can,” Derek sighed as he and Spencer turned around to their SUV.

“It doesn't make walking away any easier.”

“No, it doesn't,” Derek agreed.

* * *

“Let me get this straight,” Derek started as he entered the conference room with Piper and a cup of coffee, Spencer trailing behind with Emily. “You think Aimee’s abduction lasted over a decade?”

“I know what you’re going to say. But if we dismiss it as a coincidence, we risk an inaccurate profile.”

“The deadliest weapon we have is a thorough and accurate profile, I know,” Derek sighed. “But it’s been 8 years, Pipes. For 8 years, Sarah has been coming through those doors, saying this all the while. You’re—”

“If you say I’m new to this, I will hit you with my shoe so hard you’ll start reciting the US Constitution,” Piper said, taking her usual seat. Reid and Emily slipped in behind her.

“C’mon, Reid, back me up here.” Spencer looked like he was caught in headlights, glancing between Derek’s plea and Piper’s raised brow.

“All we’re saying is,” Spencer started slowly. “If we go from a single abduction to multiple abductions over 10 years, that changes everything. We all have to be convinced that's what it is based on an unbiased profile.”

“Okay, distraction of a lost child,” Emily countered. “8-year-old victims taken from public places with little to no security. That's not just the same ruse. That's a signature.”

“Charlie would be 16 now,” Spencer added. “Preferential offenders typically dispose of their victims before they reach puberty.”

“Maybe he serves another purpose,” Piper said. “We’ve been going into this assuming our kidnapper is controlled by a sexual urge but what if it’s something else?”

“Like what?” Derek asked.

“Say we agree that percentage-wise, child abductions are, by the majority, for the purposes of molestation and exploitation. But there are cases of women abducting children to replace a lost child, or to fill a family.”

“So, we could potentially look at families who have lost children within the last decade,” Spencer offered.

“Or cases of infertility,” Emily added as Derek dialled Garcia to let her know.

“By the way, where’s mom and dad?” he asked them.

“Went to check out the abduction site again an hour ago after we got a sketched profile down,” Garcia said, walking in with her laptop in tow. “I have bad news.” She placed the laptop in full view of the team before starting to click her way through. “Since 2000, over 200 children's bodies have not been found nationwide.”

“What about Virginia?” Spencer’s question was met with rapid clacking.

“Of the missing and presumed dead, there are 12. Uh, Charlie's been on that list for 8 years, Aimee just joined it. Aimee was taken from Ashburn, Charlie from Leesburg, 8 years ago, both within a half-mile of the highway.” Emily tossed Piper a marker and she rose to move to the board.

“What about the others?”

“I’ve got a kid every year, all of them 8 years old, all from different places.” The 4 of them got to work as Emily and Piper started scribbling all the names while Spencer and Derek worked on the geographic profile. It wasn’t long before Hotch and Rossi called them.

“ _We’re looking for 3 unsubs,”_ Rossi announced.

“How’d you figure?” Derek asked as JJ and Garcia brought in lunch; Mexican for today.

“ _We’ve got the woman who cried wolf, the partner and the getaway driver.”_ Piper bit her lip, tapping her foot as Emily moved past her to pin-up photos.

“I need a cup of tea,” she announced softly, and Emily hummed in agreement. Spencer glanced over his map to watch Piper sidle past JJ out of the door and down to the kitchen. Excusing himself quickly, Spencer left Derek with a smile and a call for a bottle of water to follow her. Piper clicked her low heel against the tiled floor, waiting for the whistle to blow before pouring the water into her mug. Spencer fought his instinct to hug her from behind and nuzzle his head into her shoulder and instead relied on clearing his throat. Piper jumped, glancing around before pressing her hand to her chest. “Jesus.”

“Nope, just me.” Piper chuckled dryly before tossing a bottle of water to Spencer who fumbled but caught it, nonetheless.

“You’re getting better at that,” she said with a winning smile.

“Aren’t you an atheist?” Piper shrugged, reaching for a spoon.

“Call it habituation.” Spencer chuckled, passing a nearby spoon to her. “How’s your geographic profile going?”

“Scattered but similar in pattern. These guys are good. What about you?” Piper sighed.

“I’m thinking it’s a family, probably a husband-wife duo but I know you’re not here to ask about that,” Piper said, and Spencer spluttered. “What’s up?”

“Are we okay? You know, after before.”

“You mean, am I mad that you spoke professionally and took an unbiased view on whether or not we’re dealing with a mass child abduction?” Piper smiled at Spencer’s sigh of relief. “Absolutely not.” Piper rinsed the spoon before dispensing it in the drainage tray.

“Good, yep, yeah.” Spencer tapped his foot and Piper raised a brow in amusement. “I mean, I just don’t want these…”

“Disagreements?” Piper supplied.

“Yeah, to uh, mess with…”

“Our relationship?” Piper provided for him again.

“I’m starting to feel like you…”

“Know what you’re going to say before you say it?”

“Actually, I was gonna say you were a mind-reader.” He pouted and Piper scoffed.

“Please. That’s scientifically impossible and you know it.”

“Not if you’re an Ood.”

“Don’t be a dork. There’s a difference between reading minds and telepathy.”

“You’re just getting into semantics,” Spencer protested as they started back up to the conference room.

“No, it isn’t,” she exclaimed. “They’re two completely different things. Telepathy is a collaborative and cooperative conversation. Mind reading is invasive and breaches the boundaries of the other person.”

“Are you trying to argue that you’re invading my mind?” Spencer asked, breaching the doors of the conference room.

“I’m just saying Oods aren’t mind-readers, they’re telepaths.” Derek looked up as Piper practically yelled at Spencer.

“If you guys are done talking about Star Wars, can we get into this?”

“Doctor Who,” Spencer and Piper objected concurrently as Hotch and Rossi walked in.

“Okay, what’s the pattern?” Hotch demanded as Rossi sank into a seat. Emily pointed to the pictures pinned on the board with her marker as she explained how the kids represented public abductions. Hotch listened intently to Spencer accounting for the pattern in locations.

“Locations are never hit more than once, but there is a similarity in each.”

“Different malls, toy stores, carnivals, theme parks, parades,” Derek continued. “Places where families should feel safe. And where there isn't much security.”

“I want to start interviewing families,” Piper announced abruptly and Hotch nodded, asking Rossi to join her, before listening to JJ’s addition.

“Sarah thinks she saw Charlie a few years ago, before her divorce. She saw him crossing the street.”

“Was he older?” Piper asked with an arm crossed over her chest as she prompted JJ.

“Well, yeah, why?”

“Complicated grief can sometimes lead to auditory and visual hallucinations, but case studies suggest that the age of the deceased seems to stay the same throughout.”

“Basically, if Mrs Hillridge was hallucinating,” Spencer clarified, “Charlie would still be 8.”

“Well, anyway, she called out for him twice and he looked up the second time.” Derek looked at JJ sceptically.

“You don’t think that’s kind of a reach?” JJ shrugged and Piper took the opportunity to think aloud.

“I don’t think so. He’s been missing for 8 years now. It’s possible the unsubs kept him around for a reason.”

“You think he’s our getaway driver,” Rossi proposed, gazing at her intently.

“He’s 16 now. Could have a license.”

“That doesn’t explain why he didn’t look the first time,” Emily countered. “If you came in right now and said Spencer’s name, I guarantee he’d look back.”

“I’d guarantee he’d look back before Piper even said his name,” Derek muttered, and Piper frowned.

“You’re really testing me today,” Piper warned as he smirked while JJ left to get her staff to call families.

“Could be Stockholm Syndrome,” Spencer intervened, surprised at Piper’s scoff.

“Oh, come on. That’s not a real—”

“Okay, granted fewer than 5% of kidnapping victims show evidence of Stockholm syndrome—”

“It’s not Stockholm syndrome! Everyone worth their salt knows it’s either trauma-bonding or PTSD.”

“He’s been in captivity for 8 years, Piper!” Piper groaned. “You don’t think there’s a slight possibility that—”

“Please, Natascha Kampusch, 1998, age ten, captive for 8 years. She said, looking for normality within the framework of a crime is not a syndrome. It is a survival strategy.”

“Patty Hearst, held hostage by the SLA in 1974, denounced both her family and the police—”

“Of course, she blamed them,” Piper yelled, flailing her free arm as Emily backed away. “They’re the ones that failed in protecting her and her allegiance to the SLA had nothing to do with Stockholm syndrome. It was purely political.”

“Exactly! The Sociological Quarterly defines it as the development of positive feelings toward their captors and sympathy for their causes and goals and negative feelings toward the police or authorities.”

“They’re sociologists! You can’t—”

“Before we start dumping names on the profession of sociology,” Hotch interrupted dryly, “maybe we should focus on doing family interviews?” Piper breathed in deeply, nodding before turning to leave to find JJ with Rossi in tow. Emily stifled a laugh as Spencer pinned up his map. Hotch stood up after his phone began to ring, no doubt a call from Strauss. There was no doubt that the unit had a lot of pressure on them with a high-profile case. But one wouldn’t know it from Hotch’s behaviour as he leaned in to say something almost out of earshot from the others to Spencer.

“Go a little easy on your girlfriend.” Spencer turned a light pink as Hotch walked away with a small smile.

* * *

“So, Stephen’s been missing 7 years?” Piper asked as Rossi glanced at his notepad.

“In February,” Mrs Shepherd added, her apprehension fading fast at Piper’s intent nod.

“He’d be 15 now,” the father commented mournfully, glancing through the communications office, recognition flashing in his eyes at the mousy-haired woman seated beside the blonde woman who had shown them in and a tall, dark-haired stranger with, what looked to him like, a sketchpad. “That’s Sarah isn’t it?” he asked with a tone of impoliteness. “Sarah Hillridge?”

“Yes, sir,” Piper said politely. “You’re familiar with her?”

“We uh, we used to be in a support group together, Doctor,” Mrs Shepherd explained. “Stephen was taken the year after Charlie.”

“You know she’s crazy?” Mr Shepherd added on genuinely and Rossi shared a look with Piper.

“Leave her alone,” the wife said.

“She is,” he exclaimed defensively.

“Sir, I don't know what you mean,” Rossi offered.

“Wishing for your boy to come home is one thing,” Mr Shepherd added. “She threw her whole life away. Her husband's a good man, and she's got a daughter who she can't even...” He closed his eyes, breathing in deeply. “Why would she ruin that?”

“Hope,” Piper offered simply. “Hope can drive us to the stars and beyond but for her, sir, hope can be paralysing.” She glanced at Rossi for help.

“We believe that the people who took Aimee Lynch have been doing this for a very long time.”

“The little girl yesterday?” Piper leaned in closer to the family.

“In the moments before your son was taken, did anything stand out?”

“Like what?”

“Anything at all that drew your attention away from him?”

“Just for a moment,” Mrs Shepherd answered slowly. “But I never thought anything about it. That woman. Looking for her son. I helped her. Oh, god. She even thanked me for helping.”

“Ma'am, you couldn't have known.”

“She was right in front of me. How could she have taken Stephen?”

“Because she's not working alone,” Piper said gently.

“They've used this ruse in a dozen local abductions,” Rossi continued.

“Is that why we're here? They've done this to all of us?” Mr Shepherd cried.

“Do you think there's a chance Stephen's still alive?” Mrs Shepherd added, the remnants of hope lingering in her and with it a sudden impending doom went through Piper’s spine.

“We aren’t sure, ma’am,” she answered softly. “But there’s a good a chance as any.” She offered a smile and squeezed Mrs Shepherd’s shoulder as she rose up. “Agent Jareau will come in soon and let you know the process. If we learn anything about Stephen, we’ll call you.” Rossi shook hands with both the bereaved parents before leading Piper outside.

“That’s all 12 families,” David sighed as they made their way through the briefing room. “All of them confirmed the same woman, 40 to 50 years old, calling for children.”

“In some cases, she even had a child with her,” Piper continued, gratefully accepting Derek’s outstretched coffee.

“She actually used the kids for the abductions?” Emily asked, clearly outraged. “Were they her own or the ones kidnapped?”

“I don't believe she's a mother. Most predisposed female offenders are not,” Rossi said clearly.

“But they are the most violent,” Derek added, as though from experience.

“If she’s working with someone, it’s most likely a subservient male partner,” Spencer said. “She chooses the victim while they do the riskiest part... They grab the child and manage the getaway.”

“Hold on, are we sure Charlie’s the getaway driver?” Derek asked quickly, glancing back and forth between Piper and Spencer. Piper sighed and Spencer surrendered to her.

“I guess,” she said slowly. “If he spent long enough with the captors, there’s a very very very,” she emphasised, “small chance he’s going through…” They looked at her expectantly. “Stockholm syndrome, which I emphasise to the strongest degree isn’t a real syndrome.”

“We note your displeasure, Bishop. Continue,” Hotch directed with the faintest trace of a grin.

“Otherwise, he’s being threatened,” Piper continued easily.

“Something that’s been bothering me,” Rossi added as JJ entered the room with Garcia in tow. “It can’t be easy managing 12 children, the oldest who must be 19 now.”

“Karla Hartaway,” Penelope supplied. “Abducted 1999.”

“Rossi’s right,” JJ supplied. “I mean, there's no way to explain a houseful of kids at the neighbourhood block party.”

“And there have to be incidents where things didn't go as planned,” Hotch agreed. “We should start with domestic calls and disturbances. Garcia, concentrate on families who were visited by Social Services. It's likely these unsubs were questioned before.” The team fell into their usual practice when they had nothing to do. Spencer pulled one of his monthly government reports to peruse while Derek tossed an apple in his hand. Emily plugged in her earphones and started tapping her fingers to Hozier lazily while Piper slipped her cell out to check in with Daniel. By the time Garcia was done, Derek was dozing, Spencer had his feet balanced on the table, Emily was laying on the floor, listening to soft acoustic and Piper was relaxed against a wall in a corner as she leafed through a Sylvia Plath collection. Penelope cleared her throat and Emily flinched at the sound of Derek crashing to the floor and the unmistakable sound of a camera and Piper’s laugh merging with Spencer’s.

“Nothing happened,” Derek managed once he had seated himself and cleared his throat. Emily and Piper rose to take their seats as Rossi, Hotch and JJ took theirs.

“We need to figure out why they're staying in northern Virginia,” Hotch directed.

“Their work could be the key,” Emily offered. “They could have a child-care facility on the premises as a cover.”

“You know, it's most likely a single-income family,” Spencer added. “Someone has to be home to stay with the kids.”

“We could assume the mother’s working if she’s the dominant half,” Piper proposed. “A subservient male would be expected to take care of the kids.”

“Don’t forget work from home scenarios,” JJ amended.

“Okay, all this helps,” Garcia announced.

“They've been questioned before, so we can expect a rehearsed response,” Hotch continued.

“How many on that list are single income?” Derek asked.

“23,” Garcia answered and Rossi noticed the subtle shake of Derek’s head. Apprehension.

“What's the problem?”

“We're gonna be knocking on the doors of 23 families and all of them have done something bad to a kid. We don't have a warrant. Just our profile. If we get it wrong and leave that house, they'll destroy any evidence they have, including the children.” Hotch gazed at Derek pensively before directing JJ to collect Aimee’s belonging. The team divided into pairs as Garcia and JJ coordinated each team remotely, each pair taking about 7 houses each with their own suspicious owners. Rossi, in particular, was unnerved by the butch woman with the lazy eye, joking as they made their way to the next house that she could have broken his arm and played baseball with it. On the other side of the block, Spencer physically flinched next to Hotch at Mr Hayden’s spit-ridden words, saliva flying at him with every hard consonant. Meanwhile, Derek and Emily moved to their last house on the block which had an alabaster-like porch overlooking a beautiful rose-garden.

“Mr Roycewood,” Emily found herself repeating to the man with the hearing aid. “I said you’ve got a lot of land here.”

“Ah, yes.” He nodded sharply before standing silently, gazing at the pair of agents expectantly.

“And a houseful of kids,” Derek prompted him, settling the family picture on the mantle. It had the unmistakable portrait of Charlie frozen in time besides 3 other children. “It’s awfully quiet isn’t it?”

“My wife took them out.”

“At the winter festival?” Emily tried, failing to mask her suspicion. Mr Roycewood bent lower, tugging at his ear. “The winter festival,” she repeated. “At Ashburn?”

“Well, no. But that's a wonderful idea. I'll mention that to my wife. Might be nice for the kids.”

“They have pony rides,” Emily supplied.

“Oh, great.”

“So, uh, do the kids take after your wife?”

“Some say they do. Uh...how can I help you?”

“Oh, we were actually hoping that your wife would be here,” Derek asked. “Do you know when she'll be back?”

“She's got the kids out on a field trip,” Mr Roycewood answered, the gravity of the situation seeming ambivalent from his expression. “The children just love Sunday drives.” Derek raised an eyebrow at him and he took a half-step back. “Uh, I can get her back here.”

“Please. If you don't mind.”

“I need to step outside,” Emily said, excusing herself. Derek ignored her retreating figure as he towered over the short, balding man.

“Why don't you go on ahead and, uh, make that phone call?” Stammering, the man excused himself with the landline, punching in random numbers. Derek smiled at him pleasantly, but it didn’t reach his eyes, especially when Mr Roycewood walked out to the porch. Clearly, Derek noted, he wanted to keep an eye on Emily outside but she was well enough out of earshot of them.

“Hotch?”

_“What have you got?”_

“We are at 2115 Mosley Lane. Only the husband is here. Roger Roycewood.”

_“Wife and kids?”_

“Yeah. Out.”

_“He matches the profile?”_

“To a T. So does the property. It's isolated. You can't see it from the street. They have extra locks on the doors. There's a minivan in the driveway and a photo of a boy who looks a lot like Charlie.”

_“Is he onto you?”_

“Without a doubt.”

_“Piper and Rossi are closest to you. We’ll get the warrant and the dogs. We're on our way.”_

Within minutes, Piper and Rossi pulled up to the curb followed by wailing sirens and flashing lights of police cars. Within another few, Emily watched the sniffer dogs lapse around the house and officers with radar take the garden while Bishop and Rossi searched the house. Rossi smirked, opening the door to the basement. “Ladies first.” Bishop sighed, pulling out a penlight from her pocket as she descended the stairs.

“If I die, I’m gonna haunt you first,” she warned as the darkness swallowed her. Rossi followed with a smile before feeling for a light switch.

“As long as you don’t break anything, I can live with that.” He hit the lights and a small bulb dangled above them. “This looks like every horror movie Reid’s made us watch.” Piper snorted quietly, moving to survey the shelves until her eyes caught a small glimmer of gold. Rossi watched her from the corner as she reached a hand to the golden strips. “What you got there?”

“Hinges,” she said, her tone confused. She beckoned Rossi as she moved to the other side of the shelf. “Please be a secret door. Please be a secret door. Please be a secret door—” The door swung open and they pulled out their guns. “Yay!” Piper whispered as Rossi pushed forward and she made to follow him into the lit passage.

“We should get the dogs down here first.” Piper nodded, bolting back up to call for Derek. The agents hung back as the officers did their job.

“I don’t get it,” Piper murmured darkly as the dogs groused, sniffing at the basement floor. “How could she know we were coming?” She turned to Rossi who gazed intently into the passageway.

“They had a secret door. Would you be surprised if there was another back door out of here?” Piper shook her head, sighing when the policewoman cleared for them to go in. The first room was sparse, lined with flowery wallpaper and a square cabinet topped with a simple lampshade. She felt Rossi move to the cabinet with gloved fingers as she examined the mattress. “Bishop!” He called. She turned on the tips of her toes to glance at him only to see photographs of children.

“How many?”

“Exactly 7. No photo of Charlie.”

“Then he probably took these pictures,” Piper proposed, craning her neck to glance through them. “Proof of what they did to them.

Meanwhile, Derek, Spencer and Emily stood near the rose bushes with a phone held on speaker, JJ and Penelope on the other line.

“What about their work? We thought it could be tied to what they do for a living.”

“Employment records, taxes, it's all legit. Roger is an electrician, has been since forever.”

“What about the wife?” Emily prompted as Rossi and Piper emerged, gliding over with grim faces.

“As far as I can tell, she stays at home. I'm crossing these same records with her maiden name, Anita Weld Roycewood. I don't think I'm gonna find anything, And I'm rarely wrong, so...”

“Are you wrong?” Piper asked with the trace of a smirk as Rossi glanced over to see Hotch talking to the officers.

“I’m happy to say yes, Anita owns a funeral home in Leesburg.”

“We're less than 10 minutes from it,” Spencer pointed out. Piper made to commandeer a bike kindly brought in by the officers on duty until Penelope’s voice shakily rang out.

“Oh, god. The funeral home's been in the Weld family since she was a little girl. Hearses, coffins, vans, a million ways to hide the children.”

“We can't dig up 10 years of coffins,” Derek countered.

“You might not have to. They have a crematorium.” Sharing a look, they rushed to their respective vehicles as Penelope sent the address to their GPS. It took a minute, but Piper swerved past each police vehicle and pushed away from the pairs of SUVs rushing to the same address. It took her no less than 7 minutes to pull up to the crematorium, swerving to a stop before abandoning her helmet. Derek and Emily pulled in half a minute later, the latter tossing her an extra vest which Piper strapped on hastily before following Morgan to the crematorium. Emily unholstered her gun as Derek ploughed the door down with his foot. Piper dropped her own gun into her holster, instinctively pulling the three ashen children behind her as Derek stepped in. Piper noticed Derek relaxing his own grip as he turned the corner and he looked back at Piper, shaking his head. Piper closed her eyes in defeat before remembering the 3 kids behind her. She knelt down next to them, wiping Charlie’s hair out of his eyes, reassuring the three of them that they were safe, that they would see their mothers soon. Derek scooped up Aimee into his arms almost effortlessly and Emily took the hand of Mae Hall. Charlie was quiet, his hand still shaking.

“You ever been on a bike before, Charlie?” His brown eyes looked up, meeting hers.

“Could you say it again?” he whispered hoarsely.

“Say what?” Piper asked, ignoring Emily and Derek pulling out of the driveway.

“My name.”

“Charlie,” she supplied with a smile before handing him a helmet. “Up you get.” It was a little big for him, and he grasped Piper’s waist a little too tightly, but they got there in the end. Derek stayed with Aimee until her parents arrived, witnessing a heart-warming reunion as mother, father, daughter and brother were united once again. Emily murmured soothing words to the older girl in the next room until her parents both walked through with JJ, crying as they hugged their child. Piper stayed with Charlie for a while, watching him snatch sheer moments of sleep. JJ popped her head around the door, letting Piper know his mother would be here in a minute, that she was in the bathroom. Piper nodded, letting JJ wake Charlie while she grabbed a drink of water. She’d stepped out for only a second when Spencer turned the corner with Sarah.

“How long have you been doing this, Dr Reid?”

“5 years, 7 months, and 19 days.”

“In your experience, what normally happens?”

“Charlie was 8 when he was taken, which means developmentally, he was in middle childhood. He had a stronger sense of right and wrong and a growing understanding of his place in the world. Mentally, he had the ability to talk about his thoughts and feelings, while have less focus on himself and more concern for others.”

“So, you think he's gonna be okay?”

“With a mother like you who did all this, I do. I'm a doctor. I put my faith in facts and statistical probabilities, but today, 8 parents are gonna have closure. 3 children are going home with their families, all because you believed your son was alive. That's as close to a miracle as I've ever seen.”

“Thank you.” Mrs Hillridge looked close to tears and Piper ushered her into the other room, letting the mother and son unite. Piper watched them; her face weary as Spencer gently placed his hand on her shoulder.

“That was nice. What you said,” she managed, placing a hand on his. He felt her lean on him for a brief moment before pulling away.

“Everything okay?” Piper managed a small smile.

“Yeah, just uh, I have to go tell the Shepherds that we didn’t find Stephen,” she said, breathing in deeply.

“We did everything we could,” he said.

“Yeah,” she sighed. “Just feels like it wasn’t enough.” She pressed a quick kiss to his cheek before leaving. He turned to see Piper murmur something to the hopeful parents and watched them crash as she lay a hand on the woman’s shoulder. He closed his eyes briefly before making his way up to the briefing room to help the ladies pack. It didn’t take long for another disruption as Derek and Rossi barged in, arms slung around Hotch.

“Someone help me convince this man that we need a night out,” Derek pleaded and Penelope brightened considerably.

“What about Jack?” Hotch protested as Piper walked in behind them curiously.

“Will wouldn’t mind babysitting Jack for the night,” JJ offered, and the team glanced back at Hotch expectantly.

“You’ll have your paperwork in by Monday?” The team of agents yelled in agreement. “Then where are we headed?” An argument erupted between Emily and Derek between sushi and Mexican food, resulting in a vote that made Emily very unhappy. They packed up in record timing and headed down for dinner as three reunited families made their own way home for dinner. The night went by fast, filled with Rossi’s exaggerated stories, Hotch’s uncountable stories of Jack and Piper’s adamant refusal to share her nachos until Spencer whispered something out of earshot which made her both blush and shoot the large plate to the middle of the table. It was a good case, JJ noted, and a rare one at that. A case that held such tragedy, resulting in such smiles, made their jobs all the more worth it and each agent around the table agreed without speaking, that for a job shrouded in such darkness, moments like these made every case worth working on.


End file.
